Warning! Contains spoilers for Cobra Kai season 1, part 1.

Summary

• Daniel LaRusso's retirement from karate in Cobra Kai season 6 sets up a major inconsistency in his character development.
• The new Karate Kid movie may struggle to make sense of Daniel's return after his confirmed retirement from karate.
• Cobra Kai season 6's Sekai Taikai tournament serves as Daniel's karate swan song, aligning with Mr. Miyagi's lesson of balance.

While it has always been confusing how the new Cobra Kai's showrunner Josh Herald recently clarified that even though Daniel LaRusso is a connective thread between the Netflix series and the Sony Karate Kid movie, the show will not set up the film. This update itself was quite surprising because it would just be strange if the 2025 Karate Kid movie avoided everything that happened in Daniel LaRusso's Cobra Kai storyline.

Owing to its limited runtime, the film could have gotten away with ignoring Daniel LaRusso's Cobra Kai journey by solely focusing on the development of his story with Jackie Chan's Mr. Han. However, Cobra Kai season 6's part 1 has now dropped a new story detail that makes the new Karate Kid movie almost nonsensical. While it is too soon to completely dismiss the film, a Cobra Kai season 6 development makes it hard not to be concerned about the continuity and coherence between the two installments of the overarching Karate Kid franchise.

Daniel LaRusso Confirms Cobra Kai Season 6's Sekai Taikai Is His Karate Swan Song

His Retirement Means He Is Following Mr. Miyagi Best Lesson

In Cobra Kai season 6's episode 1, there is a scene where Daniel opens up about his excitement for the Sekai Taikai to his wife Amanda. Although Amanda s him, she raises her concerns about their lives revolving around karate for the rest of their lives. This is when Daniel assures her that the Sekai Taikai tournament will serve as his karate swan song. He claims that once the tournament is out of the way, he wishes to focus on other aspects of his life instead of being weighed down by the mindless pursuit of raising a karate empire like Terry Silver.

...by eventually stepping away from karate and choosing to embrace his borrowed time with his family, Daniel is following Mr. Miyagi's best advice.

While one may assume that Daniel may not take his own decision seriously, retiring from karate is a crucial step in his journey of personal growth. Mr. Miyagi often reminded him that "everything be better" when "whole life have a balance." Although Daniel understood the Miyagi lesson, he struggled to implement it throughout Cobra Kai and almost ruined his relationship with his family in the show's season 5. Therefore, by eventually stepping away from karate and choosing to embrace his borrowed time with his family, Daniel is following Mr. Miyagi's best advice.

Daniel's Return In The Karate Kid Movie Makes No Sense After His Cobra Kai Retirement

His Return Would Seem Forced After His Cobra Kai Retirement Announcement

Regardless of how the new Karate Kid movie unfolds its storyline, Daniel LaRusso's return in its story would seem forced after his confirmed karate retirement. Since Daniel almost lost his wife in the pursuit of beating Terry Silver in Cobra Kai season 5, it makes sense that he is grounding himself by finally taking a step back from the karate world after the Sekai Taikai. However, if the new Karate Kid film continues his narrative as a karate sensei, it would undermine his decision to retire and create a major inconsistency in his overarching character development.